Defiant Morsi On Trial in Jailbreak Case

Ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi protested defiantly from a soundproof glass and metal cage as he went on trial Tuesday in Cairo on charges connected with a mass jail break during the 2011 uprising.

Video showed Mr. Morsi dressed in a white jumpsuit angrily shouting "Who are you? Tell me!" at the courtroom judge, who yelled back "I am the president of Egypt's criminal court!"

The microphone in Mr. Morsi's cage was then turned off.

The former president, making his second public appearance since his ouster, is being tried along with 130 people, including leaders of his Muslim Brotherhood.

They are charged with the kidnapping and murder of policemen and helping prisoners escape from the Wadi Natrun jail north of Cairo where Mr. Morsi was detained at the time. He and his co-defendants are also accused of conspiring with the Palestinian group Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah in the jail break.

The former president's second trial for allegedly inciting violence against anti-government protesters in 2012 is due to resume Saturday, after being postponed twice since it opened in November.

A third case focuses on charges that he insulted the judiciary and a fourth deals with charges of espionage in collaboration with Hamas.

Egypt's military removed Mr. Morsi from office last July, and authorities have spent months cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood, including arresting many of its leaders and declaring it a terrorist group.

Army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who toppled Mr. Morsi in July, is expected to soon announce his candidacy for the same post.

Also Tuesday, officials said gunmen on a motorcycle in Cairo shot and killed a senior police officer, Major General Mohammed el-Said, who served as the head of the interior ministry's technical office.